Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of boar seminal plasma. Problems encountered in the identification of small molecules: hypotaurine and carnitine.
Two major components in boar seminal plasma were assigned by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The first, previously called substance X (see Ref. 1, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1243, 101-109 (1995)), was identified with difficulty as hypotaurine. This pointed to general difficulties in the NMR assignments of small molecules in mixtures of substances, even at the highest magnetic fields. In contrast, the identification of the second component as carnitine was obtained in a straightforward manner by total correlation spectroscopy and proton-detected 13C chemical shift correlation methods (gradient-selected heteronuclear single quantum coherence and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation). Carnitine is known as a transporter of fatty acids through membranes. Both compounds were ultimately confirmed by addition of the authentic compounds.
Kalic
M
M
Organisch-Chemisches Institut der Universität, Münster, Germany.
Kamp
G
G
Lauterwein
J
J
D000818:Animals; D002331:Carnitine / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008970:Molecular Weight; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013552:Swine; D013654:Taurine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry
D013654:Taurine; C003949:hypotaurine; D002331:Carnitine